Virtual interactions in contact center operations

ABSTRACT

A contact center has channels for receiving communications requesting interaction with an agent, agent stations providing connection ability to received communications, and a Virtual Interaction (VI) Server connected to the LAN and executing VI software on a processor from a non-transitory medium. The VI Server creates and stores a Virtual Interaction object based on determination of an expected receipt of a future communication, the VI associating a source, an intent, a set of data regarding the source, and an agent station destination, and the created VI is stored and matched with a real incoming communication from the source associated in the VI, and the VI is then instantiated as a live interaction by connecting the source of the incoming call with the agent destination associated in the VI.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present invention is in the technology area of contact centers, andpertains more particularly to creation and use of virtual interactions.

2. Description of Related Art

In the art at the time of the filing of the instant patent application,contact centers developed for receiving and managing large volumes ofcalls for business enterprises are well-known. Examples are such centersoperating for customers of banks, and for technical help for customersof enterprises that sell technical equipment.

In operation of such contact centers there may be a large volume ofcalls, and the call rate may vary by time and circumstance. Also in suchcontact centers, a central function is the process of determining intentof callers, and routing the incoming calls to individual ones of agents,who are typically manning agent stations connected over a Local AreaNetwork (LAN). In this operation there are inevitably delays, andcircumstances where all agents are engaged, and callers are put on holduntil an agent becomes available.

In addition to the routing of calls, contact centers often have otherfunctions, such as outgoing campaigns, activities of agents other thancall handling, and much more. Modern contact centers have become verysophisticated operations in digital hardware and software. The sorts ofproblems encountered are well-known, and technologists are always atwork developing new and unique solutions to the well-known problems. Thepresent invention is a unique approach to alleviating the problems ofcontact centers.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In an embodiment of the invention a contact center is provided,comprising channels coupled to a local area network (LAN) for receivingcommunications requesting interaction with an agent, computerized agentstations connected to the LAN providing connection ability to receivedcommunications, and a Virtual Interaction (VI) Server connected to theLAN and executing VI software on a processor from a non-transitorymedium. The VI Server creates and stores a VI object based ondetermination of an expected receipt of a future communication, the VIassociating a source for the expected communication, an intent for theexpected communication, a set of data regarding the source for theexpected communication, and an agent station destination, and whereinthe created VI is stored and matched with a real incoming communicationfrom the source associated in the VI, and the VI is then instantiated asa live interaction by connecting the source of the incoming call withthe agent destination associated in the VI.

In one embodiment time parameters are associated with created VIs,including time of creation, time of life, and time to expire. Also inone embodiment the contact center further comprises routingintelligence, wherein an agent station destination is determined by therouting intelligence for the VI at time of creation, and agent routingis repeated periodically until the VI matches an incoming communicationand becomes a live interaction, or until the time to expire for the VIis reached. Also in one embodiment all VIs created are tracked andstored associated with data regarding results. And in one embodimentdetermination of expected receipt of a future communication is realizedby interaction between a source and an agent, wherein the sourceindicates an intent for a future interaction, and the agent initiatescreation of the VI as a result through functions of a desktopapplication executing at the agent workstation.

In one embodiment of the invention determination of expected receipt ofa future communication is realized by tracking browsing behavior on aweb site hosted by an enterprise hosting the contact center, wherein theVI server executing the VI software follows preset rules to triggercreation of the VI according to the tracked behavior. Also in oneembodiment the VI server creates a VI in response to a sourcecommunication indicating an intent to initiate a communication for astated intent at a particular time. Also in one embodiment the sourcecommunication is input from a source to an interactive interfaceprovided in a web site hosted by the enterprise hosting the contactcenter. IN one embodiment the VI server creates training VIs fortraining agents at agent stations, the training VIs connecting an agentwith a pre-programmed source, which is an audio or video trackpresenting a pre-planned interaction between the pre-programmed sourceand the agent. And in one embodiment training VIs are utilized to teachnew skills to agents.

In one embodiment training VIs are utilized to rate agents forperformance in varied situations. In one embodiment data regardingcustomers of the enterprise hosting the contact center is stored incustomer profiles, and wherein VIs are created, maintained andperiodically updated for every customer having a profile, the VIscreated comprising interchangeable intent, such that every communicationarriving from a customer source is matched with a closest match VI forthat customer, and the VI becomes a live interaction by connection to anagent. And in one embodiment communications from first time callers arematched to a closest match existing VI, the source is changed to matchthe new source, and a profile is created for the new customer.

In another aspect of the invention a method is provided, comprisingcreating and storing, by software executing on a processor of a VirtualInteraction (VI) Server of a contact center, a VI object based ondetermination of an expected receipt of a future communication in achannel coupled to a local area network (LAN) serving the contactcenter, the VI associating a source for the expected communication, anintent for the expected communication, a set of data regarding thesource for the expected communication, and an agent station destination,among agent stations coupled to the LAN, matching the stored VI with anincoming communication from the source associated in the VI, andinstantiating the VI as a live interaction by connecting the source ofthe incoming call with the agent station destination associated in theVI.

In one embodiment of the method time parameters are associated withcreated VIs, including time of creation, time of life, and time toexpire. Also in one embodiment the method further comprises routingintelligence, and an agent station destination is determined by therouting intelligence for the VI at time of creation, and agent routingis repeated periodically until the VI matches an incoming communicationand becomes a live interaction, or until the time to expire for the VIis reached. Also in one embodiment all VIs created are tracked andstored associated with data regarding results. IN one embodimentdetermination of expected receipt of a future communication is realizedby interaction between a source and an agent, wherein the sourceindicates an intent for a future interaction, and the agent initiatescreation of the VI as a result through functions of a desktopapplication executing at the agent workstation. And in one embodimentdetermination of expected receipt of a future communication is realizedby tracking browsing behavior on a web site hosted by an enterprisehosting the contact center, wherein the VI server executing the VIsoftware follows preset rules to trigger creation of the VI according tothe tracked behavior.

In one embodiment of the method the VI server creates a VI in responseto a source communication indicating an intent to initiate acommunication for a stated intent at a particular time. Also in oneembodiment the source communication is input from a source to aninteractive interface provided in a web site hosted by the enterprisehosting the contact center. Also in one embodiment the VI server createstraining VIs for training agents at agent stations, the training VIsconnecting an agent with a pre-programmed source, which is an audio orvideo track presenting a pre-planned interaction between thepre-programmed source and the agent. In one embodiment training VIs areutilized to teach new skills to agents. In one embodiment training VIsare utilized to rate agents for performance in varied situations. In oneembodiment data regarding customers of the enterprise hosting thecontact center is stored in customer profiles, and wherein VIs arecreated, maintained and periodically updated for every customer having aprofile, the VIs created comprising interchangeable intent, such thatevery communication arriving from a customer source is matched with acloset match VI for that customer, and the VI becomes a live interactionby connection to an agent. And in one embodiment communications fromfirst time callers are matched to a closest match existing VI, thesource is changed to match the new source, and a profile is created forthe new customer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an architectural diagram depicting equipment and connectivityin one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simple diagram depicting development of an interaction in acontact center, and an object that represents a live interaction.

FIG. 3 illustrates a Virtual Interaction in one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example process in development of a VirtualInteraction.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating operation in an embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION System Architecture

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a contact center 115 and a plurality ofnetworks with interconnections whereby customers and remote agents mayinteract with agents and interactive functionality at the contactcenter. Contact center 115 may be hosted by one enterprise or by morethan one enterprise, and one enterprise may employ more than one contactcenter. Customers and agents may interact with contact center 115through communication appliances such as land-line telephones 104 (1-n),IP-enabled devices 108 (1-n), or through mobile appliances 110, 111 or112. In some circumstances interaction may be limited to voice, but inother circumstances interaction may include text interaction, such as,for example, email, messaging services, chat, video interaction, dataservices, and so on.

Persons interacting through land-line telephones 104 may connect firstlyover trunk lines as shown to a network switch 102. Switch 102 mayinteract with hardware and software of a Service Control Point (SCP)128, which may execute intelligent operations to determine to connect anincoming call to different ones of available contact centers or to routean incoming call directly to an agent in a contact center or to an agentoperating as a remote agent outside contact center premises. Incomingcalls in some circumstances may also be routed through a gateway 103into the well-known Internet network 106 as packet-switched calls. Theinterconnections in the Internet are represented by backbone 121. Inthis circumstance such a call may be further processed as apacket-switched IP call. Equipment providing SCP services may alsoconnect to the Internet and may allow SCP functionality to be integratedwith Internet-connected servers and intelligence at contact centers.

A call from a land-line telephone 104 connecting to switch 102 may berouted to contact center 115 via trunk lines as shown to either aland-line switch 116 in contact center 115 or to a Traffic Processor117. A contact center 115 may operate with just one of the land-lineswitch or the traffic processor, but in some circumstances may employboth incoming paths. Traffic processor 117 may provide Session BorderControl (SBC) functionality, may operate as a Media Gateway, or as aSoftSwitch.

Persons interacting through IP-enabled devices 108 (1-n) may interactthrough the Internet network via backbone 121, enabled by a variety ofservice providers 105 which operate to provide Internet service for suchdevices. Devices 108(1) and 108(2) may be IP-enabled telephones,operating under a protocol such as Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).Appliance 108(3) is illustrated as a lap-top computer, which may beenabled by software for voice communication over packet networks such asthe Internet, and may also interact in many other ways, depending oninstalled and operable software, such as Skype™. Similarly, appliance108(n) illustrated as a desktop computer, may interact over the Internetin much the same manner as laptop appliance 108(3).

Many IP-enabled devices provide capability for users to interact both invoice interactions and text interactions, such as email and textmessaging services and protocols. Internet 106 may comprise asubstantial variety of Internet-connected servers 107 and IP-enableddevices with Internet access may connect to individual ones of suchservers to access services provided. Servers 107 in the Internet maycomprise email servers, text messaging servers, social networkingservers, Voice over IP (VoIP) servers, and many more, many of whichusers may leverage in interaction with a contact center such as contactcenter 115.

Another arrangement by which users and in some cases remote agents mayinteract with contact centers is through mobile devices, illustrated inFIG. 1 by devices 110, 11 and 112. Such devices may include, but are notlimited to laptop computers, Pad devices and smart telephones. Suchdevices are not limited by a land-line connection or by a hard-wiredInternet connection as shown for telephones 104 or IP-enabled devices108, and may be used by customers and remote agents from changinggeographic locations and while in motion. Devices 110, 111 and 112 areillustrated in FIG. 1 as connecting through a wireless network 109,which may occur through individual ones of cell towers 113 associatedwith base stations having gateways such as gateway 114 illustrated, thegateways connected to Internet backbone 121.

In some circumstances mobile devices, such as devices 110, 111 and 112may connect to supplemental equipment operable in a moving vehicle. Forexample, cellular smartphones may be enabled for near-fieldcommunication such as Bluetooth™, and may be paired with equipment in anautomobile, which may in turn connect to the Internet network throughsatellite equipment and services, such as On-Star™. Wirelesscommunication may be provided as well in aircraft, which may provide anon-board base station, which may connect wirelessly to the Internetthrough either a series of ground stations over which an aircraft maypass in flight, or through one or more satellites.

Regardless of the variety of ways that Internet access may be attainedby mobile devices, users of these devices may leverageInternet-connected servers for a great variety of services, or mayconnect through the Internet more directly to a contact center such ascontact center 115, where users may interact as customers or as remoteagents of the contact center.

Contact center 115, as described above, may represent one of a pluralityof federated contact centers, a single center hosted by a singleenterprise, a single contact center operating on behalf of a pluralityof host enterprises, or any one of a variety of other arrangements.Architecture of an individual contact center 115 may also varyconsiderably, and not all variations may be illustrated in a singlediagram such as FIG. 1. The architecture and interconnectivityillustrated in FIG. 1 is exemplary.

Equipment in a contact center such as contact center 115 may beinterconnected through a local area network (LAN) 125. Land-line callsmay arrive at a land-line switch 116 over trunk lines as shown fromland-line network 101. There are a wide variety of land-line switchessuch as switch 116, and not all have the same functionality.Functionality may be enhanced by use of computer-telephony integration(CTI), which may be provided by a CTI server 118, which may notearriving calls, and may interact with other service units connected toLAN 125 to route the calls to agents connected to LAN 125, or in somecircumstances may route calls to individual ones of remote agents whomay be using any of land-line telephones 104, IP-enabled devices 108 ormobile devices represented by devices 110, 111 or 112. Calls may bequeued in any one of a variety of ways before connection to an agent,either locally-based or remote from the contact center, depending oncircumstances.

Incoming land-line calls to switch 116 may also be connected to an IVRserver 119, which may serve to ascertain purpose of the caller and otherinformation useful in further routing of the call to final connection. Auniversal router and/or conversation manager server 120 may be leveragedfor routing intelligence, of which there may be a great variety, and forassociation of the instant call with previous calls or future calls thatmight be made. Call Mobility intelligence, and server execution of same,is described in additional detail in descriptions below.

Land-line calls thusly treated may be connected to agents at agentstations 127(1) or 127(2), each of which is shown as comprising aland-line telephone connected to switch 116 by destination number (DN)lines. Such calls may also be connected to remote agents using land-linetelephones back through the land-line network. Such remote agents mayalso have computing appliances connected to contact center 115 forinteraction with agent services such as scripting through an agentdesktop application, also used by agents at agent stations 127.

Incoming calls from land-line network 101 may alternatively be connectedin contact center 115 through Traffic Processor 117, described brieflyabove, to LAN 125. In some circumstances Traffic Processor 117 mayconvert incoming calls to SIP protocol, and such calls may be furthermanaged by SIP Server 122 or traffic processor 117.

Incoming calls from IP-enabled devices 108 or from mobile devices 110,111 or 112, and a wide variety of text-based electronic communicationsmay come to contact center 115 through the Internet, arriving in thecontact center at an eServices Connector 130. eServices Connector 130operates as a server, and may provide protective functions, such as afirewall may provide in other architecture, and may serve to directincoming transactions to appropriate service servers. For example, SIPcalls may be directed to SIP Server 122 or to Traffic Processor 117, andtext-based transactions may be directed to an Interaction Server 131,which may manage email, chat sessions, Short Message Service (SMS)transactions, co-browsing sessions, and more. Interaction Server 131 mayleverage services of other servers in the contact center, and otherservers available remotely as well.

Agent station 127(3) is illustrated as having a connected headset from acomputing device, which may execute telephony software to interact withpacket-switched calls. Agent station 127(n) is illustrated as having anIP-enabled telephone connected to LAN 125, through which an agent atthat station may connect to packet-switched calls. Every agent stationmay have a computerized appliance executing software to enable the usingagent to transact by voice, email, chat, instant messaging, and anyother known communication process, including video and social media. Theagent stations are also useful for back-office tasks, such as claimprocessing, for example, and for agent training.

The computerized appliance at an agent station may also execute anapplication known as a desktop application, through which an agent usingthe station may interact with and leverage many services available toenhance the agent's interactivity, both with callers, and with otherservices provided in the contact center.

A Statserver 124 is illustrated in contact center 115, connected to LAN125, and may provide a variety of services to agents operating in thecontact center, and in some circumstances to customers of the contactcenter. Statistics may be used in contact center management to varyfunctionality in routing intelligence, load management, and in manyother ways. A dB 126 may be provided to archive data and to providetemporary storage for many of the activities in contact center 115. Anoutbound server 123 is illustrated and may be used to manage outboundcampaigns in the contact center, wherein calls may be made todestinations from a campaign list, and answered calls may be connecteddirectly or may be queued to be connected to agents involved in theoutbound campaigns.

In one embodiment of the invention, in addition to other servers shownin contact center 115, there may additionally be a Call Mobility server133 as shown in FIG. 1, connected to LAN 125. The functions of CallMobility server 132 are to enable callers to move to different deviceswhile a call is in progress, without having to re-establish a call.Further, in an embodiment of the present invention there may be aVirtual Interaction Server 134 connected to LAN 125, and this server mayexecute SW 135 for creating and managing virtual interactions, describedin enabling detail below.

As described above, contact center 115, and the architecture andconnectivity of the networks through which transaction is accomplishedbetween customers and agents is exemplary, and there are a variety ofways that similar functionality might be attained with somewhatdifferent architecture.

A very important function of every contact center operation is receivingcommunications from persons seeking a service provided by theenterprise, connecting that communication to a human or digital agentcapable of providing the service sought, and completing the resultingtransaction. For a contact center operating for a financial institutionlike a bank, for example, customers having an account at the bank may becalling to check the balance, move cash from one account to another,make a payment on a loan, initiate a mortgage application, and any of avariety of other services. For a car dealership, customers may becalling to arrange service and maintenance, establish a lease, buy a newcar, and so on. For manufacturers of consumer computer equipment,customers may be calling to get guidance in setting up a computerstation, guidance for installing software or troubleshooting operation,and so forth. It is almost universal in such operations that callers(customers) will not all have the same intent with a call. It istherefore mandatory in routing operations to determine the intent of acaller, to be able to best route the call to an agent that is capable toprovide the service desired.

It is important to understand that the communications are in no waylimited to voice calls. Modern contact centers handle voice calls, bothland-line and voice-over-IP (VoIP), text messages, email, chat sessions,and literally any and all ways that customers and agents might interact.And because the purpose is interaction, an actual live communicationevent is often called an interaction in the art. This terminology isused in this patent specification.

Persons skilled in software arts will understand that data entities uponwhich software processes may operate may be termed and considered asobjects in a hardware/software system. FIG. 2 is a simple diagramdepicting development of an interaction in a contact center, and anobject 204 that represents a live interaction that is accomplishedbetween a caller and an agent as a result of operation of functions ofthe contact center. This example assumes a voice call as theinteraction, and a particular functional process in the contact centerto establish a live interaction between the caller and an agent. Theskilled person will understand that the process illustrated in FIG. 2may be based on an interaction other than a voice call, such as a textmessage, that the process described is exemplary, and that the flowmight take different paths.

In this example, the beginning of development of a live interactionobject is receiving an interaction at the contact center. In thisexample the interaction is a voice call. In FIG. 2 the interaction isincoming call 201, which arrives at Land-Line switch 116 (see FIG. 1).The result is an incoming call object 202 associated with a caller id.In this example switch 202 connects the incoming call with IVR 119 todetermine the caller's intent. At the same time, or in sequence, eitherbefore or after the IVR, the system may also access user profiles in dB126 to access user data. Although connection to IVR 119 is illustrated,the user's intent may be determined in other ways known in the art. Inthis example the user's interaction with IVR 119 may be very quick andsimple, or may be more involved. Further, the User data available mayrange from nothing (this may be a first-time caller) or there may beextensive useful data, which may be accessed and attached to thedeveloping call object in a variety of ways for later use.

In any case, after the access of user data, and the interaction of thecaller with the IVR, the call object may be developed as object 203,which now associates Caller id, Intent, and User Data. The next step isinteraction with routing intelligence to determine where to route thecall; that is, to which agent, live or automatic, the call should berouted for best service. Functions of Router 120 in this example areaccessed, using the already attached information, to determine an agent.The caller's intent is, of course, paramount in this decision, and theUser Data attached may also figure prominently in determination of arouting destination. The system maintains near real-time knowledge ofwhich agents are on duty and available, which are engaged currently inlive calls, which are engaged in non-call tasks, and which agents areopen to receive a new call at the time the incoming call is ready toroute. Functions of the router may take all of this and more intoaccount, determine a destination for the call, and connect the call tothe selected agent at the agent's workstation. The skilled person willunderstand the queueing may be involved in an efficient process ofconnecting calls to agents. That is, there may not be an agent at thistime both free to take the call and having the requisite skills. Inwhich case the caller may be placed on hold for a proper agent to becomefree to take the call, or may be offered a call-back. The skilled personwill understand that in the connection of the example call to an agent,and in interaction of the live call, other systems at the contactcenter, such as media servers, may be accessed to establish and conductthe interaction between the caller and the agent.

Once the call is connected to the selected agent a live interactionobject 204 results, which has all four categories of data associated.This object may be maintained in the dB for various purposes, one ofwhich is to keep track of activities of the agents currently involved inthe contact center. This object is also useful later, and may beassociated with a partial or complete recording of the live call, whichhas many uses, such as reviewing an agent's performance. And after thelive call is competed, more data may be attached, such as a recording ofthe call, time of the call, effective outcome, and so on.

A Virtual Interaction

FIG. 3 illustrates a virtual interaction (VI) 301, an object ofimportance in the present invention, which in several ways is very muchlike interaction object 204 of FIG. 2. VI 301 includes a Caller id,which may include the caller's telephone number, but may also in someembodiments include destinations addresses and numbers for a caller at aplurality of destinations, such as land-line, cellular number, Skypehandle, and other potential destinations. There is also an Intentassociated in the VI, User data for the caller, and an agent id, whichmay also include telephone, text, chat, or other potential destinationsfor the agent. Depending on the particular circumstance, these fields ofa VI could be either (partially) filled in, or just empty placeholders.

An essential difference between VI 301 and live interaction object 204is that VI 301 is not developed from a live call and the call-processingand routing functionality of the contact center and its servers andsoftware in populating and routing the live call. In a main use case aVI is populated in expectation, prediction or hope of a future liveinteraction. VIs, however, have other uses in other embodiments of theinvention. For example, for outbound projects, which is similar tocallback. For each OB or CB attempt one can create a VI with prefilleddata (customer, interaction specifics), collect related info such ashistory and pre-reserve an agent. There are further VI use cases whichare not driven by expected interactions, such as filling slots for agentsurplus scenarios when more agents are on service thanexpected/predicted traffic. For those scenarios VIs can be used for e.g.synthetic interactions, or processing backlogs etc.

The skilled person will understand that the processes depicted by FIG. 2in the development of object 204 each take time. In particular, thereare two functions that may require a considerable span of time. One isthe IVR interaction, in which the caller may be queried as to intent andexpectation, and the other is in the actual routing, which in somecases, parks a caller in a queue (on hold). There are other latencyissues as well. An important motivation in the concept and uses of VIsis to reduce the requirement for computer power, and also to connect andservice callers more quickly. And there are other uses for VIs beyondthese two purposes, which will be described in more enabling detailbelow.

Development of a Virtual Interaction

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating operation of VI Server 134executing SW 135, in concert with other functionality of contact center115, in creating a VI in one embodiment of the invention. At step 401the system makes a prediction of an interaction. This may be done in anyone of several ways. As a first example, a customer may have mentionedto an agent in a previous, concluded interaction, that the customerwould call back at or near a certain time and date. In one embodiment ofthe invention a function of the agent's desktop might be to enable theagent to initiate a VI for the expected call, by entering the expectedtime, date, and the customer's id, and possibly an intent for theexpected call as well.

As a second example of prediction for creating a VI, in one embodimentof the invention customers of the contact center may be informed andenabled to initiate a VI through an interactive interface on a websitehosted by the enterprise for whom the call center operates. Frequentcallers would know that they will be very efficiently connected with abest agent by this prior step. In the setup, the customer may also enterintent for the upcoming interaction. The caller in this operation willnot be aware that a VI is being created, but will be aware that entry ofthe information will enhance later service.

As a third example, the enterprise may track customer behavior on a website, and may determine through the customer's activity that thecustomer may highly likely initiate an interaction. In this example, thecustomer's activity on the site may also determine intent for anexpected interaction.

As yet another example, certain customers of an enterprise may be knownby experience to initiate an interaction with the contact centerrepeatedly at a certain time of day. As yet another example, a customerwho has initiated a transaction, and perhaps has been frustrated inmaking connection with a helpful agent, may be informed that a call backat a certain time, or in five minutes, for example, will result inalmost instant service. A VI may be prepared for that second call totreat the frustration of the customer.

There may be other ways to make the prediction for which a VI may beprepared. At step 402 for a predicted call, id is determined and enteredinto a developing VI 400. At step 403 intent for the predicted call isdetermined and entered into developing VI 400. In some cases, the intentmay have been determined already at this point, as indicated in examplesabove. At step 404 the system finds and enters user data which may beuseful in consummating a later interaction. This user data will beaccessible for an agent to leverage once a VI becomes a liveinteraction. At step 405 the system determines an agent destination forthe VI just as would be done for a developing real interaction (see FIG.2).

The routing destination for a VI may not be specific at the time ofdeveloping the VI, as agent utilization is such that a specific agentselected in the VI development as a best agent for a live interactionstemming from a developed VI, will not in all probability be free totake the live call at the time the VI becomes a live interaction. Inconsequence, in one embodiment the routing function for a VI is afocusing function. That is, in many contact centers, agent capabilitiesare known, agent break times are known, and agents may be categorized inlanguage capabilities, specific subject matter abilities, and so on. ForVI development a short list of best agents may be associated with a VI,based on requirements, such as intent, language, subject matter and soon. Then, if and when the VI becomes a live call, the agent destinationis at least narrowed, and a best agent may be selected from the shortlist.

In another embodiment the routing function initiated at step 405 isapplied, selecting one best agent, which will work if the VI becomes alive interaction in short order. But Vis in many embodiments are timerelated, having a start time, and a lifetime, after which, if unused, aVI may be deleted. In one embodiment, after a short time after a firstrouting, the VI is re-routed, and this process may be repeated, shown asstep 406, until the VI becomes a live interaction, or expires.

Uses of Virtual Interactions Quick Enablement of Real Interactions

Once VI 400 is populated, it may be saved for future use to meld with anincoming interaction that is determined to be the expected interaction.The skilled person will understand that even in a saved state, a VI maybe periodically updated as new data becomes available, deleted ifknowledge is found that the expected call will not materialize, androuting may be regularly updated as described above. In some embodimentsincoming calls are matched with VIs to determine and retrieve VIs to beused as real interactions.

When an incoming interaction is determined to match a previously createdand stored VI, the VI may be retrieved, and used to complete the call.The process is much quicker and less computer intensive thanconventional development of the real interaction, because at least someprocesses that would be necessary for the real interaction are alreadyaccomplished for the VI.

Referring again to FIG. 2, which shows the processes in the developmentof a live interaction object, if a call is received that is quicklydetermined to be an expected call for which a VI has been prepared, andespecially if the routing has been kept up to date, the VI may bedirectly initiated as a live interaction, skipping essentially all ofthe processes of FIG. 2 in the development of a live interaction. Thelive call may be directly connected to the best agent, and there will beno discernable delay for the caller.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating operation of a contact center forprocessing incoming communications according to an embodiment of theinvention. FIG. 5 assumes that there is a Virtual Interaction Server inuse in the contact center, and the VIs are stored and searchable. Atstep 501 a live interaction is received on a channel connected to theLAN of the contact center. For every communication received a search ismade for a matching VI expecting the incoming communication at step 502.If a matching VI is found at step 503, the incoming communication isquickly connected to the agent station destination associated in the VI,and the VI becomes a live interaction. There is no need for IVR, datalookup, or routing intelligence, so considerable computer power isconserved, time is saved, and the caller may be amazed at being soquickly connected to a best agent.

Agent Skill Evaluation

In one embodiment of the invention VIs may be created with simulatedinteractions and used to model agent skills. In this case there is noreal caller id and no expected call, although the intent a customer datamay be real enough. In this embodiment Vis are routed to agents, perhapsrandomly. As just a gross example, a VI may be in a particular language,and if the agent to whom it is routed responds well, that agent may bemarked as qualified for that language. Such Vis may be much moresophisticated, leveraging subject matters with test sequences that willreveal an agent's competency or skill level in certain circumstances.Campaigns may be periodically executed to update agent skill evaluation.Another example is a synthetic interaction on a subject which waslearned from the web or social media which might become relevant for agiven business, and one would like to check proactively whether thereare already agents knowledgeable in the subject. The subject itselfmight not be explicitly configured as skill yet, but syntheticinteractions could be used for skill discovery.

Agent Performance Evaluation

In some embodiments Vis may be created to test agent's performance inspecific situations and circumstances. Caller side behavior may bescripted as varied and stressful, for example, to test how an agentperforms under stressful circumstances. Records may be kept, recordedand performance reports created and distributed.

Agent Training

In some embodiment VIs may be created and routed to agents for trainingpurposes, including training on potential new subjects. This maymotivate agents to get familiar with the subject. Such VIs may begrouped into categories and escalatory in nature, so training begins ata somewhat sophomoric level, and increases with further VIs that aremore challenging.

Call-Back/Outbound Management

VIs are useful for call-back and for Outbound management in general, andmay be created through a function of an agent's desktop application, orby a separate server handling call back or outbound traffic. Whenever acall-back is needed, whether through an agent initiation of a caller,the intent will generally be known, as well as the caller (to be called)id and the user data for an agent's use. In the case of Outboundcampaigns the destinations are also known. The routing function isdifferent than shown in FIG. 4, as the agent is known and a call will beplaced to the caller id.

Back-Office Tasks

VIs may be useful for creating and managing distribution of non-calltasks for agents, having to do with many functions as are known incontact center operations.

A Self-Organizing Contact Center

In one embodiment of the invention the concept of VIs as described abovemay allow for a self-organizing contact center.

Using the concept of Virtual Interactions an end-to-end model of aself-driving contact center may be defined and implemented. Such aself-driving center would use only an absolutely minimum set of the mostbasic input elements, such as Agent List, Schedule templates (could be afunction of Legal/Geo), optimization target, such as First CallResolution (FCR) and Subject Area. Then the system will intelligentlyrun the entire operation using VIs.

-   -   a. In case of crowd-sourcing, Agent list may not even be        required    -   b. Subject Area could also be intelligently derived and/or        improved with time, based on interaction history. However,        suggesting the initial subject area will help to accelerate the        initial orientation by narrowing down the field of attention to        the external context and suggested agent skills. E.g.        (subect_area=‘retail-tech’) will imply skills:={sales; support;        billing; general} and channels:={voice; chat; email; social}.    -   c. Such a “Black Box” Contact Center (further—BBCC) could begin        operating with minimum required input and optimization targets        (e.g. Agent list, schedule=24×7,        Subject_Area:=‘online-retail-tech’, Geo area:={‘USA’, ‘Canada’};        Optimization:=‘Maximize FCR’). At the very beginning BBCC might        start using VIs for intense training and testing, which will        assign attributes, skills, and proficiency to Agents. After a        reasonable warm-up period it will use predictive routing and        journey analytics; for instance, it may start from T=0 as a        random interaction distributor blended with training and        qualifications synthetic interactions, and, with time will        optimize the fulfillment of the VI stream relying on feeds from        the outside world and accumulating interaction history, as well        as, assigned agent attributes and qualifications.    -   d. Going further, a proactive real-time recruiting function        might be added, which could control the talent demand and        bidding offering different rates, depending on the fulfillment        patterns at different times.

Virtual Interaction Reporting and Feedback

A very important component of a contact center is an ability to trackactivity and operations, to render the data in a useful manner, and tofeedback to knowledge workers and administrative staff reports ofperformance against expectations, which enables strategic planning anddevelopmental improvements in operations. This, of course, is a softwarefunction, and may be accomplished by executing the software, comprisingalgorithms for data collection, analysis and reporting, on one or moreprocessors of one or more servers in the contact center. In FIG. 1 StatServer 124 is a good candidate for tracking and reporting, because muchof this sort of data management is a part of the functionality of aStatistics server. But such functions may occur elsewhere in the contactcenter as well, or be shared among two or more servers.

Reports may be of several sorts. Some reporting may be done on amore-or-less continuous basis. Call load, as one example, is almostalways tracked, and may be reported to personnel needing to know inseveral ways. Other reports may be generated on longer periods, and maybe published in different ways. In contact centers practicingembodiments of the present invention, involving creation and use of VIsin a variety of applications, the activities involving VIs need to betracked, recorded, and reported, to best be able to operate to maximumeffect in those applications using VIs.

In one commercially available contact center system known to theinventors, work-force management (WFM) is a quite highly developedpractice, wherein a great variety of activities of the contact centerare tracked, data is processed, and reports are displayed and providedin other ways to interested and responsible parties in the contactcenter. In embodiments of the present invention, involving VIs, the WFMoperations of the contact center are enhanced relative to use of VIs.

In one aspect of WFM in an embodiment of the invention statistics aretracked and recorded for:

-   -   numbers of VIs created in expectation of live interactions        -   sources of expectation    -   portion of created VIs that convert successfully to live        interactions    -   instances of successful VIs that required alteration in        transition    -   unexpected variation of rate of expectations and VI creation    -   Inventory of training and testing VIs by type

These are simply examples of stats that may be tracked and processed forVIs, and there may be many more that may be useful in work-forcemanagement. IN a sophisticated WFM environment there will be a dashboardwith drop-down menus for displaying processed data, and for commandingcertain processing and alternative displays. The feedback loop ofprocessed statistics regarding VIs may be used for adjusting predictionalgorithms, correcting staffing levels, focusing training through VIs,determining advantageous periods for training and evaluation, and formany other purposes.

It will be apparent to the skilled person that the embodiments describedabove are examples of practice of the invention in various aspects, andare not therefore limiting to the scope of the invention, which mayinclude many other manifestations of the invention and ways ofpracticing the invention. The architecture of a contact center may, forexample, take many other forms than those described, and functions inthe invention may be done somewhat differently and in a different orderthan the specific examples described. It was described above, forexample, with reference to FIG. 1, that Contact center 115 may representone of a plurality of federated contact centers, a single center hostedby a single enterprise, a single contact center operating on behalf of aplurality of host enterprises, or any one of a variety of otherarrangements. The VI mechanisms in such cases would be adapted tospecifics of the Contact Center arrangement. For example, for a BusinessProcess Outsourcing type contact center serving multiple tenants onecould use VIs per tenant if agents are dedicated, or common VIs atcontact center level if agents are shared. The scope of the invention islimited only by the claims that follow.

1. A contact center, comprising: channels coupled to a local areanetwork (LAN) for receiving communications requesting interaction withan agent; computerized agent stations connected to the LAN providingconnection ability to received communications; and a Virtual Interaction(VI) Server connected to the LAN and executing VI software on aprocessor from a non-transitory medium; wherein the VI Server createsand stores a VI object based on determination of an expected receipt ofa future communication, the VI object associating a source for theexpected communication, an intent for the expected communication, a setof data regarding the source for the expected communication, and anagent station destination, and wherein the created VI is stored andmatched with a real incoming communication from the source associated inthe VI, and the VI is then instantiated as a live interaction byconnecting the source of the Incoming interaction with the agentdestination associated in the VI.
 2. The contact center of claim 1wherein time parameters are associated with created VIs, including timeof creation, time of life, and time to expire.
 3. The contact center ofclaim 2 further comprising routing intelligence, wherein an agentstation destination is determined by the routing intelligence for the VIat time of creation, and agent routing is repeated periodically untilthe VI matches an incoming communication and becomes a live interaction,or until the time to expire for the VI is reached.
 4. The contact centerof claim 1 wherein all VIs created are tracked and stored associatedwith data regarding results.
 5. The contact center of claim 1 whereindetermination of expected receipt of a future communication is realizedby interaction between a source and an agent, wherein the sourceindicates an intent for a future interaction, and the agent initiatescreation of the VI as a result through functions of a desktopapplication executing at the agent workstation.
 6. The contact center ofclaim 1 wherein determination of expected receipt of a futurecommunication is realized by tracking browsing behavior on a web sitehosted by an enterprise hosting the contact center, wherein the VIserver executing the VI software follows preset rules to triggercreation of the VI according to the tracked behavior.
 7. The contactcenter of claim 1 wherein the VI server creates a VI in response to asource communication indicating an intent to initiate a communicationfor a stated intent at a particular time.
 8. The contact center of claim7 wherein the source communication is input from a source to aninteractive interface provided in a web site hosted by the enterprisehosting the contact center.
 9. The contact center of claim 1 wherein theVI server creates training VIs for training agents at agent stations,the training VIs connecting an agent with a pre-programmed source, whichis an audio or video track presenting a pre-planned interaction betweenthe pre-programmed source and the agent.
 10. The contact center of claim9 wherein training VIs are utilized to teach new skills to agents. 11.The contact center of claim 9 wherein training VIs are utilized to rateagents for performance in varied situations.
 12. The contact center ofclaim 1 wherein data regarding customers of the enterprise hosting thecontact center is stored in customer profiles, and wherein VIs arecreated, maintained and periodically updated for every customer having aprofile, the VIs created comprising interchangeable intent, such thatevery communication arriving from a customer source is matched with aclosest match VI for that customer, and the VI becomes a liveinteraction by connection to an agent.
 13. The contact center of claim12 wherein communications from first time callers are matched to aclosest match existing VI, the source is changed to match the newsource, and a profile is created for the new customer.
 14. A method,comprising: creating and storing, by software executing on a processorof a Virtual Interaction (VI) Server of a contact center, a VI objectbased on determination of an expected receipt of a future communicationin a channel coupled to a local area network (LAN) serving the contactcenter, the VI associating a source for the expected communication, anintent for the expected communication, a set of data regarding thesource for the expected communication, and an agent station destination,among agent stations coupled to the LAN; matching the stored VI with anincoming communication from the source associated in the VI; andinstantiating the VI as a live interaction by connecting the source ofthe incoming call with the agent station destination associated in theVI.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein time parameters are associatedwith created VIs, including time of creation, time of life, and time toexpire.
 16. The method of claim 15 further comprising routingintelligence, wherein an agent station destination is determined by therouting intelligence for the VI at time of creation, and agent routingis repeated periodically until the VI matches an incoming communicationand becomes a live interaction, or until the time to expire for the VIis reached.
 17. The method of claim 14 wherein all VIs created aretracked and stored associated with data regarding results.
 18. Themethod of claim 14 wherein determination of expected receipt of a futurecommunication is realized by interaction between a source and an agent,wherein the source indicates an intent for a future interaction, and theagent initiates creation of the VI as a result through functions of adesktop application executing at the agent workstation.
 19. The methodof claim 14 wherein determination of expected receipt of a futurecommunication is realized by tracking browsing behavior on a web sitehosted by an enterprise hosting the contact center, wherein the VIserver executing the VI software follows preset rules to triggercreation of the VI according to the tracked behavior.
 20. The method ofclaim 14 wherein the VI server creates a VI in response to a sourcecommunication indicating an intent to initiate a communication for astated intent at a particular time. 21-26. (canceled)